Fabric cleaning/softening products come in a number of forms, such as granules, liquids, tablets, and pouches. Each form has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Recently, water-soluble pouches containing fabric cleaning or softening actives have become popular. In general, the pouches comprise a non-aqueous liquid composition surrounded by a water-soluble film, such as a polyvinyl alcohol film. These products have the advantage that they are convenient to dose, easy to handle and cause little mess in comparison with traditional composition forms. EP 339 707 (Unilever) discloses a non-aqueous detergent composition contained in a PVA film. WO 01/81 520 (Colgate) discloses a wash-cycle single compartment unit dose softener composition.
However, none of these two executions provide both cleaning and softening benefits at the same time. WO 01/85 888 discloses a unit-dose composition delivering fabric softening benefits and comprising up to 5% wt. or less of surfactants. The disadvantage of this system is the low cleaning performance due to the low surfactant content.
The prior art also provides unit dose systems, which provide fabric cleaning and fabric softening benefits at the same time. However, due to compatibility problems of the cleaning system comprising an anionic surfactant, and of the fabric softening system, comprising a cationic fabric softening active, the execution of WO 02/08 380 (P&G) involves dual compartment pouches, in which the first compartment contains a detergent composition and in which the second compartment contains a fabric softening composition.
It is well known in the art that dual compartment unit dose systems are not easy to manufacture, and especially not in an economical way. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide single compartment unit dose non-aqueous liquid fabric treatment compositions that impart superior performance, in terms of cleaning and fabric softening benefits.
In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to overcome the incompatibility problem of anionic surfactants and fabric softening actives, especially when the fabric softening active is a cationic fabric softening active. The present invention provides a solution of this problem by utilizing non-cationic fabric softening actives which can be combined with anionic surfactants and do not cause incompatibility problems.
Another problem associated with the incorporation of cationic fabric softeners into water-soluble films is the interaction of the cationic softener with the typically negatively charged surface of polyvinyl-alcohol containing films. This difficulty has also been overcome by utilizing non-cationic fabric softening actives which can be combined with negatively charged film surfaces and do not cause incompatibility problems.
Furthermore, prior art unit dose products have shortcomings with respect to dissolving quickly and completely upon contact with water. Hence, it is another object of the present invention to provide pouched compositions which are able to disintegrate quickly and completely without excessive residue being left in the drawer, in the wash drum, or on laundered clothing.
It has now surprisingly been found that the pouched compositions of the present invention demonstrate very good cleaning performance and very good fabric softening, especially fabric softening performance. Additionally, it has been found that the pouched compositions of the present invention demonstrate better solubility and/or lower residues formation.